Jan 2020 Anthology BotM: Unfettered edited by Shawn Speakman

[Felina]

Baseball is soooo boring. In all forms.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Felina wrote: "Baseball is soooo boring. In all forms."


Playing it isn't too bad - at least in short bursts.

Preferred soccer, though.

[Chris , cookie guilt]

I actually loved the play by play baseball.

[Ala]

Same.

I've been that kid, too though. Stupid baseball.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Heaven in a Wildflower - I kinda like this one. It was weird, but I thought the idea of (view spoiler)[people creating some kind of cloud they could upload themselves into is cool, and the ability to incarnate from there. Not sure why there are so few women, though it could be a commentary on the boys club nature of Silicon Valley. I felt like the attack bots should be programmed to go after people who hurt them, though, not trying to help them.

I also liked the post-post-apocalyptic nature of it. The Silicon Valley people were dicks, though, stopping people from producing naturally - or making it hard, anyway. (hide spoiler)]

Seems the most scifi kinda story so far.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Becky wrote: "I think Gerard wanted her, but only as a tool."

I agree with this. And with:

colleen the convivial curmudgeon wrote: "Fair point. He seemed to want them all as tools. He asked them for ideas, but didn't really want them to have ideas of their own outside of his notions of the "right way" and his agenda."

I think that this was the problem with Gerald (view spoiler)[ and the reason why doing things his way didn't really get him the results he wanted. Why he lost all his people and ended up alone trying to get her back. I think - when added to the intro - we're supposed to look at Gerald as the person who would have been the "right" MC. And the actual MC "should have been" a side character with less focus. (hide spoiler)]

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

MrsJoseph *grouchy* wrote: "Becky wrote: "I think Gerard wanted her, but only as a tool."

I agree with this. And with:

colleen the convivial curmudgeon wrote: "Fair point. He seemed to want them all as tools. He asked them ..."

Are we meant to think that, cause he's a dick and I'm glad he wasn't.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

I agree. But the intro with all the "people telling her she focused on the wrong person as MC" gave me that impression.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

I also agree that this book is neeevvveeeerrrr going to end.

O_O

I mean, it's full of heavy hitters. Why no heavy hitting?

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Oh. I haven't been reading any of the intros.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

MrsJoseph *grouchy* wrote: "I mean, it's full of heavy hitters. Why no heavy hitting?"


Because a lot of heavy hitters are overrated?

;P

[Chris , cookie guilt]

I think I figured it out.

When asked to donate for good cause, they were willing to do so. But dug up stuff they weren't ever going to use elsewhere, for good reason.

[Chris , cookie guilt]

colleen the convivial curmudgeon wrote: "Oh. I haven't been reading any of the intros."

The intros are better than the stories, in many cases. Sometimes they help with context.

[Felina]

I’m doing the audio and there are no intros. I feel like I’ve missed a lot.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Chris wrote: "The intros are better than the stories, in many cases. Sometimes they help with context."

But that's just more reading. Waah.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Chris wrote: "I think I figured it out.

When asked to donate for good cause, they were willing to do so. But dug up stuff they weren't ever going to use elsewhere, for good reason."

I think this is very true at least for some of them.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Dogs - meh. Bit overwrought in the metaphor department.


ETA: Dogs might require a trigger warning for some people for (view spoiler)[metaphors for sexual assault (hide spoiler)]

[Chris , cookie guilt]

Strange Rain - I liked this one. Weird, but interesting.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Today's curmudgeonly thought: A "short story" should be readable in the span on one train ride (25 minutes), else it's too long. Oof.

[Chris , cookie guilt]

That's reasonable.

Some of these have taken me a couple of hours to get through.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Chris wrote: "Some of these have taken me a couple of hours to get through."


That... is not a short story. That's, like, a novella. WTF.

Or do you just keep putting them down 'cause they suck? LOL

[Felina]

In general, the longer ones have been the hardest for me. I prefer the quick ones.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Felina wrote: "In general, the longer ones have been the hardest for me. I prefer the quick ones."


Yeah. I sort of start skimming the longer ones if I'm not into them.

[Becky]

I have stalled out again. Still on the music one.

You see, what had happened was... I started watching this guy play modded Skyrim on Twitch, and it was hilarious and then it made ME want to play Skyrim... and so I've been playing Skyrim.

See you all in 2027. :D

[Chris , cookie guilt]

colleen the convivial curmudgeon wrote: "Chris wrote: "Some of these have taken me a couple of hours to get through."


That... is not a short story. That's, like, a novella. WTF.

Or do you just keep putting them down 'cause they suck? LOL"

Both...

[Chris , cookie guilt]

Becky wrote: "I have stalled out again. Still on the music one.

You see, what had happened was... I started watching this guy play modded Skyrim on Twitch, and it was hilarious and then it made ME want to play..."

Aha! Now we know what's taking GRRM so long to finish books.

[Becky]

Probably... Or he's busy counting his money... in ones.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Chapel Perilous - interesting take on the Grail story and the Fisher King. Still think Oberon's thoughts aren't "doggy" enough. 2.5 stars

Select Mode - like Chris said, at least it's short. Hard to follow without knowing anything of the world, but I'm guessing dystopian from the ending. 2 stars

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Michael Stein - I thought this was gonna make me sad, but it was actually pretty sweet. I'd like to read more about a (view spoiler)[girl detective for ghost cats and her ghost cat sidekick (hide spoiler)] 3.25 stars

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

I'm bummed that there are 9 more stories, though.

[Felina]

colleen the convivial curmudgeon wrote: " Michael Stein - I thought this was gonna make me sad, but it was actually pretty sweet. I'd like to read more about a [spoilers removed] 3.25 stars"

I didn’t even think of that but it would be fun. A nice little book of 10 to 15 short stories of her (view spoiler)[ solving crimes for ghost cats (hide spoiler)]

[Felina]

I’d like to at least see how she resolves the declawing issue.

[Chris , cookie guilt]

Nocturne - read the first page, skimmed about 8, then DNF the rest. Opened another book and read for an hour without issue.

[Felina]

I’m on river of souls. I see a Terry Brooks Shannara short story that I’m interested in since I loved those books when I was younger. And I’m a Lev Grossman fan. Otherwise I’m not excited about the rest but I’ll finish it this weekend or something.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Strange Rain - it was ok, but i think The Thirteenth Tale biased me against stories about twins. I liked the cloud, though.

[Felina]

Ooo now I want to reread The Thirteenth Tale.

[Chris , cookie guilt]

Felina wrote: "I’m on river of souls. I see a Terry Brooks Shannara short story that I’m interested in since I loved those books when I was younger. And I’m a Lev Grossman fan. Otherwise I’m not excited about the..."

That's a Wheel of Time story, so I'm curious. Also looking forward to the Shanara and Grossman stories. Otherwise, I might skip the rest of this slog.

[Felina]

Chris wrote: "Felina wrote: "I’m on river of souls. I see a Terry Brooks Shannara short story that I’m interested in since I loved those books when I was younger. And I’m a Lev Grossman fan. Otherwise I’m not ex..."

I read the first two of Wheel geez like 20 years ago. And I’m a big Sanderson fan so I have high expectations.

When I first read them I was a sweet little conservative Christian girl and I’d been told fantasy was evil. So I was hiding the fact that I was reading them at my Christian boarding school cause I’d get in trouble if I was caught with them. The fades scared me so I stopped reading. Oh I was so sweet.

[Chris , cookie guilt]

And look at you now :)

[Felina]

Now I’m a ragged sea hag. It’s beautiful.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Felina wrote: "Ooo now I want to reread The Thirteenth Tale."


Ugh. But why?

[Felina]

I loved that book! The audio was fantastic.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Felina wrote: "I loved that book! The audio was fantastic."


I... I thought I knew you.

*sob*

;)

[Felina]

Ha ha. As if that’s the first book we’ve disagreed on.

Let’s just hug and read Night Circus together while Becky vomits.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Felina wrote: "Ha ha. As if that’s the first book we’ve disagreed on.

Let’s just hug and read Night Circus together while Becky vomits."

[Ala]

I still have like 5 stories to go.

I've started another book instead.

I don't even care.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Ala wrote: "I still have like 5 stories to go.

I've started another book instead.

I don't even care."

lol

I have been Unfettered about reading this, lol. A Beer at the End of the World was fun, though!

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Nocturnes - got bored about halfway through and bailed. Zero stars.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Unbowed - too long and I ccould've done without the (view spoiler)[fridging (hide spoiler)]. Swordplay was halfway decent. 2 stars

[Felina]

River of Souls - no idea what was going on.

The Jester - I found this one to be actually kind of funny. I’d probably check out Michael Sullivan in the future.

The Duel - I love me some Lev Grossman and I super love the Magicians universe. 5 stars. I never finished the trilogy and I really need to.

Walker of the Shade - Admittedly I didn’t read all the Shannara books but I read enough that you’d think I’d know what the hell was happening but I didn’t. So boo. Plus, it was overly short with no context so...super boo.